


Neighbors

by Spurlunk



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Baking, Beaches, Friendship, M/M, Picnics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-17
Updated: 2014-06-24
Packaged: 2018-02-05 02:14:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1801675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spurlunk/pseuds/Spurlunk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An AU where after the events of The Avengers, but before the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Steve Rogers meets his neighbor Sam Wilson, and sparks fly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a mashup of whatever canon from movies and comics I feel like.

Steve Rogers let out a very un-superhero-like shriek when he woke up on Sunday morning and found that he was not alone in his bed. The handsome, man opened his eyes and started yelling right back, seemingly just as surprised as he was. Steve flung the covers back and got out of bed.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Who are you?" the other man replied, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand.

"This is my apartment, you answer me first," Steve said.

"Shit. I'm Sam Wilson. I'm your next door neighbor, I must have climbed in the wrong window - hey, you look familiar...holy crap, you're Captain America! And ... you're not wearing any clothes and I broke into your apartment and slept in your bed oh my god ..." he said, horror dawning in his eyes as he realized what he had done.

"I'm wearing clothes!"  Steve said, pointing down at the boxer shorts he had slept in.

"Barely. Shit, shit, shit, I'm so sorry, I swear this was all a mistake, I was drunk and I forgot my keys and I thought this was my apartment, and - you have a cat?"

Maggie had pushed the door open and was winding her way around Steve's legs, meowing loudly to be fed. She had a collar around her neck that was striped red, white, and blue.

"Her name is Maggie, she was a gift from a friend. Do you want some breakfast?" he asked.

"Um. Yeah, sure," Sam said. Steve nodded and opened a chest of drawers, pulling out a gray T-shirt and slipping it over his head.

"The bathroom's right outside the door and to the right. I'll be in the kitchen."

 

Sam got out of bed only after Steve had gone, because he had an embarassing situation he didn't want Captain America to see. He went straight into the bathroom and shut the door. He was still wearing the clothes he'd gone out in last night, and they were looking worse for wear, all wrinkled and a little smelly. He had bags under his eyes and the inside of his mouth tasted disgusting. He should probably take a shower, but then he'd just have to put these same gross clothes on all over again, so it didn't really matter. Sam washed his face, put some toothpaste on his hand and tried to brush his teeth, then used the toilet. He looked at his face in the mirror again and sighed. This was not how he wanted to look when meeting Captain America. He'd definitely made a memorable first impression. It didn't help that Steve was about ten times more handsome in person than he was in pictures or on TV.

When Sam made his way into the kitchen, Steve was cooking eggs at the stove, Maggie the cat noisily eating by his feet. The small table was set with two places, orange juice and milk already in glasses.

"Have a seat, I'm almost done," Steve said without turning around.

"Do you need any help?"

"I'm alright, thank you."

Instead of sitting down at the table, Sam walked over to the living room and started poring through Steve's bookcase. He didn't have many pictures up on the walls, and the ones he did have were paintings. Abstract art, Sam didn't recognize any of them. The books were an eclectic collection, more non-fiction than fiction, and covering everything from parapsychology to the Cold War.

"I'm sorry again, man, about everything, I'll make it up to you, you ever need anything you let me know, alright?"

"That's not necessary, it was an honest mistake." Steve said. Sam decided to just drop it for now.

"Hey, did you read all of these?" he asked.

"About half of them. I'm working on the rest. I have a lot to learn. Come eat," he said, and Sam walked over. Steve made scrambled eggs and toast. He doused his with sriracha sauce and Sam smirked.

"What?"

"Very twenty-first century of you."

"I do live here."

Sam took the bottle from Steve when he was done and did the same to his eggs. It definitely brought the meal up to the next level.

 

By the end of breakfast, Steve learned that Sam used to be a member of the Air Force Pararescue, and that he now worked as a counselor for veterans. Thankfully today he said he didn't have to be at work until four, which was good as it was now nine in the morning and if he had to be somewhere he was officially late. However, Sam said he still had the problem of having locked his keys in his apartment the day before, so Steve said he would help him get in to his apartment. Sam put the dishes away and cleaned up while Steve put on some pants and made sure that he didn't forget his key as he led the way back into the hallway.

"Right here. We can just go outside and climb up the fire escape, that's how I got into your bedroom, I just went in through the window. Speaking of which, that doesn't seem safe, I mean, you're Captain America, it shouldn't be that easy to get into your place - "

"Don't worry about that. Stand back," Steve said, and pulled his wallet out of his back pocket. He took out a small metal object and knelt down on the floor, fiddling with the lock for a few minutes before there was a soft click. He stood up and opened the door, gesturing for Sam to go first. Steve couldn't hide his proud smile, and Sam couldn't hide his surprise.

"You can pick locks?" he said.

"Yep. Learned when I was a kid. My best friend taught me how."

"Captain America, what kind of an example are you setting for children?" Sam said, mock-offended.

"Everything alright now? No more surprise sleepovers?" Steve asked, still smiling.

"No, sir."

"Just to clarify, it's not the sleepover part I had a problem with."

"What?" Sam asked, but Steve didn't have a chance to explain, because his pocket started buzzing and answered the phone. It was Pepper, and she sounded slightly alarmed, which meant it was something that Tony couldn't handle on his own.

"Thor's on his way, but I think you should get here too, they're big and - " Pepper was cut off by a scream and a crash, and Steve immediately texted Natasha to get more details on the situation. All thoughts of joking and flirting were gone as he immediately switched to his serious superhero mode.

"I gotta go. See you later, Sam," he said, already running down the hall towards the stairs.

"Good luck!" Sam called out, and when Steve came home that night, bruised and battered, there was a thank you note taped to his door with Sam's cell phone number scrawled on the bottom of it.

 


	2. Chapter 2

About a week went by without any word from Steve, and Sam tried not to let it get to him. He was the one who'd left him his phone number, the ball was in his court now. If Steve chose not to call him, well, that was his decision. It had been a pretty unconventional encounter, so if Steve wasn't interested in Sam, it made sense for him to just let it be. That's what Sam kept telling himself, anyway. Until Steve showed up at the VA hospital just as Sam was leaving work, wearing a button down shirt and jeans that made him look more hipster than grandfatherly, albeit on accident.

"Hey, you want to grab a coffee?" he asked, without even a hello.

"Nice to see you too, Steve. Sure, there's a Starbucks in the bookstore down the block." Sam said, pulling on his jacket and heading out of the building.

"I'm sorry, I'm a little nervous."

"About what?" Sam said, as they walked down the street.

"Let's get something to drink first," Steve said, holding the door open for Sam. Steve ordered a Caramel Frappuchino and used his real name. People never expected to see superheroes in line behind them at Starbucks, so it didn't really seem to matter. Sam ordered an Americano and then they both took their drinks and found a seat by the window in the back corner.

"So what did you want to talk to me about?" Sam asked. Steve swirled the whipped cream in his drink with his straw.

"Do you know who Pepper Potts is?" Steve asked. Sam shook his head.

"She's the CEO of Stark Industries, Tony Stark's girlfriend," he explained.

"Oh, right, yeah, I've seen her on TV."

"She invited me to a charity event, a masquerade ball. It's Tony's idea, but he knew that if he invited me I wouldn't come, so he got Pepper to do it. I'm supposed to bring a date, and normally I would just ask Natasha - Natasha Romanoff, I don't know if you know her - but she's on a mission in Thailand right now - which is confidential, so don't go telling anyone - "

"Are you asking me to be your date to the ball?" Sam asked, putting Steve out of his misery. Steve nodded.

"Yes," Sam said simply, and Steve smiled so brilliantly Sam blinked a little bit.

"That's great. I'll text you the details, but it's this Thursday evening, here in DC."

"Looking forward to it. Hey, you got anyplace to be right now?" Sam asked. Steve shook his head.

"Good, because I've been thinking, and I've got a few books you should add to your reading list."

 

After they finished their drinks, Steve followed Sam into Barnes and Noble, where Sam went to the science fiction and fantasy section right away.

"You had almost no fiction on your shelves, which is a disgrace. You know you can learn more about the human condition from a story than you can from any textbook."

"I used to love stories about aliens and monsters when I was a kid," Steve said, touching the particularly vibrant cover of one of the books on the shelf.

"Good, then you'll love this one, it's about a zombie apocalypse. You should probably read some Stephen King, Carrie is a little silly but it's classic horror. Game of Thrones is really big right now, so read the first book and see what you think. Oh, here's Saga, it's a comic book, I don't know why it's in this section, but it's really good, read it anyway. Wait, have you read Harry Potter yet?" Sam asked. Steve shook his head, the stack of books in his arms growing larger and more unstable as Sam went along the shelves.

"Well I can definitely fix that," he said, pulling out an entire box set and shoving that on top.

"I think this is enough to start with," Steve said.

"Maybe, yeah, probably. When you're done with all those let me know and we'll watch the movie versions, I have the DVDs for most of those and the rest is probably on Netflix."

"I guess we have the next few dates planned out for us then."

"Only if you do your homework! Come on, let's see how much this all costs, I'll pay for some of them," Sam offered.

"No, it's fine, I got it," Steve said. The cashier recognized him, but she didn't say anything about it. Her excitement was palpable, however, and when Steve told her to have a nice day, she was too awestruck to respond. On the way back to their building, Steve shifted his bag of books from hand to hand, knocked 'accidentally' into Sam's, and grasped his hand in his. They held hands right until they got to Sam's apartment doorstep, and then Steve leaned over and kissed Sam quickly on the lips.

"I'll text you," he said, and retreated into his apartment before Sam could respond.

 

Sam looked at himself in the mirror. He wasn't super comfortable with his outfit, he had little occasion to dress up in a suit and it felt unfamiliar to him. He even had on suspenders underneath his blazer. Steve had texted him and told him that Pepper was sending a car over for them, and Sam kind of like he had during his senior prom, only this time instead of Angelina Jacobs, his date was Captain America. Sam nodded firmly at his reflection, and went downstairs. Steve was waiting in the lobby, looking especially handsome in a tuxedo. He smiled and held out his arm, which Sam took as they went into the car. There were old fashioned masks in the backseat, four of them. They looked like they were out of some kind of period romance movie. Sam took one out and attached it to his face, the rubber band in back making sure it didn't slip off.

"How do I look?" he asked.

"Weird." Steve said, putting on his own.

"You too. Whose idea was this?"

"I don't even know."

"Are all of your superhero friends going to be there?" Sam asked.

"Yes, except Natasha. Don't worry, they'll like you. Because I like you." Steve said, and Sam smiled. The car stopped, and though there were a few paparazzi hanging out in front of the building, with their masks on Sam felt like he and Steve could have been anyone. Nobody was yelling out Steve's name, so they must have gone more or less unnoticed.

The ballroom where the party was taking place was breathtakingly beautiful, and it was already full of people, dancing, drinking, and mingling. Steve went straight for a blonde woman who had one of the masks you held instead of attaching to your face, and she had hers in her hand instead of on her face, so it was easy to tell who she was.

"Steve, I'm so glad you came! Is this the man you've been telling me about?" she said, hugging Steve and then putting out a hand for Sam to shake.

"Sam Wilson, it's nice to meet you, Ms. Potts."

"Call me Pepper," she said.

"This is a beautiful party," Steve said.

"Try telling Tony that. I turn away for one minute and he's off trying to show the caterers how to do their job more efficiently. Oh, Thor and Jane are around here somewhere, and I think even Bruce came, if you want to say hi."

"I think we're going to get some drinks first." Steve said.

"Have fun!" Pepper said, and the two of them went to get drinks from the bartender, who looked kind of frazzled, as a shorter, goateed man in a mask was trying to show him how to mix them properly.

"Tony, I thought you quit drinking," Steve said.

"Doesn't mean I can stand by and just watch while this idiot messes up my guests drinks. Who hired you?"

"Ms. Potts did, Mr. Stark."

"Sam, that's Tony Stark. Tony, this is my friend Sam." Steve said. Tony ignored them both and kept bothering the bartender.

"Do you want to dance?" Sam asked Steve, since it was apparent that if they wanted to actually get drinks they'd have to stand here for a while. Steve nodded, and Sam pulled him out onto the dance floor, putting his arms around him. Dancing with Steve was amazing, and Sam felt like they were the only two people in the entire room. The spell was broken when a large man with long blond hair tapped Steve's shoulder, a diminutive brunette in a red dress at his side.

"Mind if I cut in?" he asked in a deep voice, and Sam recognized him as Thor. It was strange seeing him in normal human formalwear. Sam nodded and stepped aside as Thor danced with Steve, laughing and talking to him in his low, booming voice. The woman with him smiled at Sam.

"Care to dance?" she asked.

"Sure," he said, taking her hand.

"I'm Jane Foster. The big guy who just stole your date is Thor."

"I recognized him. I'm Sam Wilson. It's nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too. What do you do?"

"I'm a counselor at the VA hospital. I work with vets. What about you?"

"I'm a scientist. Physicist, actually. I worked with Dr. Selvig in New Mexico, that's how I met Thor. It's nice to meet another person here who isn't famous. I mean, usually these parties are full of CEOs and superheroes and celebrities and - well, you know what I mean," she said.

"Yeah, I get it. I'm a little overwhelmed myself, I've never been to anything this fancy before."

"Well, you're holding your own so far! You're a better dancer than I am, that's for sure."

"Thanks, my mom had me take lessons when I was a kid."

"Aww, that's cute!" she said, and then the song was over. The dance floor broke out into a smattering of applause, and the band announced they were taking a short break. Sam walked Jane over to one of the tables, where she sat down to rest her feet, kicking off her heels discreetly under the chair.

"I hate heels, but with this kind of dress I had to wear them. You guys have it easy," she complained. Sam saw Pepper finally pull Tony away from the bartender, whose sigh of relief was visible from halfway across the room.

"Do you want me to get you a drink?" he asked.

"That would be wonderful, thanks," Jane said. Sam brought back a drink for her and a drink for himself, and found Steve and Thor had joined them at the table, along with a dark-haired woman that Sam didn't recognize. Most of them had ditched their masks, and the more relaxed atmosphere put Sam at ease. The conversation seemed to currently be revolving around who could make the best chocolate chip cookies, which Sam definitely had an opinion on.

"There's no way any of your cookies come close to my Grandma's recipe," he said.

"Does your grandma use coconut?"

"No, that's not a chocolate chip cookie anymore, that's a coconut cookie!"

"You must all bake your recipe and then I can try each one and judge whose is the best." Thor said.

"Wait, have you never had a chocolate chip cookie before?" Jane asked him.

"No, I am not sure what that is."

Everyone's heads swiveled to look at him at once, and Thor actually shrank back a little in his seat.

"We need to fix this as soon as possible." Steve said.

"Fix what?" Tony asked, taking a seat on the dark-haired woman's other side. She adjusted her position so that she was facing him a little. He grinned at her, and Jane rolled her eyes at Steve, who hid a smile. Sam grinned.

"We're going to have a chocolate chip cookie contest to see who can make the best one, and Thor will be the judge since he's never had one before," the woman explained.

"Darcy, I can't believe you've fed Thor every flavor of Pop-Tart that exists but you haven't given him a cookie." Jane said.

"A girl can only do so much!"

Steve reached for Sam's hand under the table. Sam squeezed it and Steve grinned.

"You two are sickeningly cute," Tony said.

"What? Who, us?" Steve said, and Sam laughed out loud. Tony made a face and walked away.

"I think you are both charming and I wish you great happiness." Thor said.

"Thanks, man. Same to you," Sam said. Steve was blushing, his cheeks and neck bright red, and Sam wondered idly how far down it went.


	3. Chapter 3

Steve didn't wait as long this time before contacting Sam again. It wasn't that he hadn't wanted to talk to him, it was just that he'd been busy with work and then he wasn't sure what he would even say to Sam, but hanging out at Tony Stark's party had pushed away the awkwardness between them. Steve texted Sam his thoughts as he went through some of the books that he'd picked out for him, and then Sam said he'd come over with some DVDs so they could have a movie night together.

They settled in on Steve's couch with a bowl of popcorn and the first season of Game of Thrones. Five episodes in, they'd finished the popcorn and Steve's head was in Sam's lap as he lay on the couch. He'd pulled out his sketchpad sometime around episode three, and was sketching Robb Stark and Jon Snow holding their new pets.

"Direwolf puppies. Direpuppies?" Sam asked.

"Sounds sinister," Steve replied.

"Guess Game of Thrones isn't your thing?"

"Sorry, the book was alright but I don't think I'll read any more. Can I draw you?" he asked.

"Me?"

"Yeah, you," Steve said with a flirtatious smile, turning in Sam's lap so he was facing him, albeit upside down.

"Okay," he said, and Steve sat up so that Sam could move. He muted the TV but let the episode keep playing.

"Where do you want me? You want me to take my shirt off or something?" he asked.

"You can if you want to, but you don't have to. I'll stay here on the couch, you can sit or stand, however you feel more comfortable."

Sam elected to sit in the armchair, feet up on the coffee table. Steve got up and messed with the lamps and lights until he got it just how he liked it, and then sat back down on the couch with his pencil and paper. He had been drawing for about ten minutes before he broke the silence.

"We can talk if you want, I don't mind." Steve said.

"Okay. Who was the last person you drew, Steve?"

Steve hesitated for a minute, he even stopped drawing. Then he swallowed, looked up at Sam for a minute, and continued sketching.

"My best friend, Bucky. Bucky Barnes."

"Oh yeah? Did you know him before? During the war?"

"We grew up together. He was my best friend, we were closer than brothers. I lost him during the war."

"I'm sorry. I lost my partner too."

"Really?"

"His name was Riley. We were together in Pararescue. I always thought if I had just gotten there a few seconds sooner, I could have saved him, could have done something...that just never goes away."

Steve looked up again, and nodded. Sam smiled a soft, sad smile, and Steve tried to get it down before it went away. Ten more minutes of silence as Steve drew, and then he finished, standing up and stretching a little.

"Done," he said, and Sam stood up too.

"Can I see?" he asked, and Steve ripped off the piece of paper, handing it to him.

"You can keep it," he said, and Sam smiled, looking at it. He took a while, examining every detail.

"Now can I draw you?" he asked, and Steve was a little surprised.

"I didn't know you drew too," he said.

"I mean, I'm nowhere near as good as you are, but I'm not terrible. I'm gonna want you to lie down though. On your bed." Sam said with a mischievous smirk. Steve grinned right back and nodded.

"Sure, let's go."

Sam sat at the bottom of Steve's bed with paper and pencil, cross-legged. Steve lay back on the bed, his head propped up on his elbow, smiling a little at the ridiculous cliche of it all.

"No, man, you gotta take off your clothes too, come on," Sam said. Steve took off his shirt and pants slowly, yanking off his socks last and folding the pile neatly, setting it on his bedside table.

 

Sam didn't get very far with his artwork. He had just sketched out some vague outlines of shapes that made up Steve's superhuman body, before he got too distracted. Before he knew it, the paper and pencil were at the foot of the bed, completely forgotten, as they leaned into each other. Steve slid his hands up to Sam's back and Sam had one hand in Steve's hair, another on his thigh. They didn't talk, just kissed, first lips and mouths then Steve flipped Sam over, kissing him on his neck and then moving lower as Sam tried not to make too much noise.

When they were finished, sweaty and tangled up in the sheets, Sam propped himself up on Steve's chest and grinned.

"I can't believe that just happened. I did things with Captain America that the world would be scandalized to learn about."

"Why do you have to keep calling me that?" Steve said.

"I should wear a shirt that says "I slept with Captain America and all I got was this lousy T-shirt,"", Sam replied, and Steve shoved him playfully. Sam fell off the bed and onto the half-finished sketch of Steve, yelping in surprise.

"Let me see that," Steve said, and Sam stood up, handing Steve the drawing. It was just the barest outline, you couldn't even tell that it was Steve yet. Sam felt a little self-conscious, especially after Steve had drawn him such a beautiful picture.

"This has potential. Will you finish it?" Steve asked. Sam shrugged.

"If you want me to."

"Okay. I'll get back in that pose. Here," he said, handing Sam his pencil, and Sam sat back down. When he finished, Steve had fallen asleep, so Sam untangled the sheet and put it over him as gently as he could, placing his drawing on top of Steve's clothes and turning off the light before getting himself dressed and going back to his own apartment to bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, I can't write sex scenes. You can provide your own using your imagination, or if you want to write one yourself I can put it in and I will give you credit.


	4. Chapter 4

When Steve texted Sam the next Saturday to see if he could come over and watch a movie together, Sam texted back to say he was actually not at home right now, his friend had a personal emergency so he had gone to her house to babysit her son.

"U can come over if u want tho," Sam texted, and Steve said sure. He took the metro to Northern Virginia, and took the bus to the stop nearest the address Sam had given him. One of the many things he enjoyed about the future was the ease in getting around unfamiliar places with the help of a GPS on a smartphone. He could have probably just taken a cab, but Steve liked public transportation. Growing up in New York City, it was either the bus, the subway, or walk, so he'd never really had much of a chance to take cabs or drive a car. Plus he liked being among ordinary people. At first it had just reminded him how much he didn't belong, but the longer he was in the 21st century, the more at ease he felt, realizing that without his Captain America uniform on, he could blend in with everyone else, just another person on his way somewhere.

The heavy-set middle-aged woman sitting next to him pulled something out of her tote bag, and dropped a skein of yarn on the floor. Steve reached down and handed it to her. She was knitting a scarf, a beautiful deep purple color that sparkled a little with bits of glitter.

"Muchas gracias," she said, smiling at him, and he smiled back. Steve got off at the next stop, and walked the couple of blocks to a small, tucked away collection of townhouses just off the main road. He knocked on the door, and heard Sam's voice yell that he was coming. A few moments later, he opened the door and grinned at Steve.

"Hey, thanks for coming. Check this out. Hey Kai, come here and meet my friend," Sam said, letting Steve in and shutting the door. Steve heard little feet thumping on the wooden floor, and then a little boy with dark hair in a small ponytail came running in.

"Hello, Kai, I'm Steve," Steve said, kneeling down so he was at the boy's eye-level.

Kai hid shyly behind Sam's legs.

"This is my friend Angelina's son Kai, he's seven, and guess who his favorite superhero is?" Sam said.

"Spiderman?" Steve asked. Kai shook his head.

"Captain America!" he said, finding his voice. Sam laughed out loud and Steve rolled his eyes at him.

"That's great, he's my favorite too," Steve said, and Kai smiled at him, then took off for the living room, where Steve could hear some kind of cartoon on TV.

"Kind of big-headed of you, isn't it? To be your own favorite," Sam said.

"Shut up." Steve replied, and they went to join Kai in the living room, sitting together on the couch as he sat on the carpet and played with his toys.

"He seems like a good kid," Steve said, and Sam nodded.

"I've known his mom since high school. We dated for a while, but then we lost touch. She moved here after she split up with Kai's dad, and we've been hanging out more. She's a good friend," Sam said.

"Do you babysit for her often?"

"Not that much, I mean, I come over here a lot, but this time her mom got sick and she had to go be with her until her brother could get time off work."

"That's rough, I'm sorry."

"I'm hungry!" Kai announced, looking up at Sam expectantly.

"I bet Steve's never tried Banh Mi before. You want one?"

"Yeah!" Kai yelled, and Steve raised his eyebrows at Sam, who leaned over and kissed him.

"Trust me, you'll love it."

 

Sam was glad to see that Steve did in fact love Vietnamese sandwiches. Kai stared in wonder as Steve finished not only one, but THREE of them, and then managed to have some ice cream for dessert as well.

"Is your tummy going to explode? My mom says that's what's going to happen to me if I eat too much," Kai said in a very serious tone.

"No, I have a lot of room in there. I just have a big appetite." Steve explained.

"He can eat as much as he wants and still look that good. I have to work out to maintain this," Sam said, gesturing down at his body.

"He's still bigger than you," Kai said finishing the rest of his ice cream. Steve handed him a napkin and he wiped his face, but he still had a spot on his nose, so Steve took care of that for him and tossed their garbage in the trash can.

"Whatever, kid, at least I'm bigger than you are," Sam said as they walked towards the car.

"Yeah, but I'm still growing, you're never going to grow any bigger."

"Shut up, kid! Why you gotta be so mean?"

Steve laughed, and Sam tried to punch him, but he ducked out of the way. Stupid supersoldier reflexes. By the time they got back to the house, Kai was fast asleep in the backseat. Steve carried him up to his bedroom, and Sam tucked him in. The two of them sat back down on the couch, cuddling together. The house was silent, and the sun was starting to set.

"You wanna play Mario Kart?" Sam asked suddenly.

"What?"

"Wait, you've never played any video games before, have you?"

"I know what they are, but I've never played, no."

"I am gonna kick your ass, you better be ready," Sam said.

"Bring it," Steve said, and Sam tossed him a controller.

"Let's do this."


	5. Chapter 5

As soon as Steve heard that Thor and Jane were back in town, he invited them over for a cookie baking party. Sam was pretty excited about it too, he spent most of the morning baking his grandmother's chocolate chip cookies, and when he brought them over, Steve was almost done with his own batch.

Thor was on Steve's couch, poring over a coffee-table book about astronomy, with Jane sitting next to him. They were animatedly discussing space and planets together, and whenever they got too close to each other Darcy loudly told them to get a room. Natasha was there too, leaning against the couch as she sat cross-legged on the floor with Darcy, doing her hair in a neat french braid.

"Hey Steve, the door was open, where do you want me to put - oh, hey Thor, hi Jane, I'm Sam," he said, putting the tray of cookies down on the kitchen counter as he walked into the apartment.

"I remember you, we met at the ball," Darcy said.

"Sam, that's Darcy, and that's Natasha. Natasha, this is my friend Sam," Steve said.

"They're a lot more than just friends," Darcy said. Natasha raised an eyebrow, her mouth turning up a tiny bit at the corners. The oven timer went off, and Darcy squealed, leaping to her feet. Natasha stood up with her, tied off the end of the braid, and settled in an armchair.

Steve reached into the oven and pulled his cookies out, setting the trays on cooling racks.

"My turn!" Darcy said. She already had a bowl of batter ready to go, and wouldn't even let Steve wait a second, taking his cookies off of the pan before he had a chance to do it himself. She put her own cookies there, and stuck them in the oven. Now there were two separate batches of cookies on the counter, with one more coming soon.

"You don't bake?" Sam asked Natasha as he walked over to sit down in the living room. Steve's kitchen was small, and even with just the three of them it was feeling kind of crowded. As soon as he sat down, Maggie the cat came out of her hiding place behind the curtains, and settled in his lap, meowing loudly until he started petting her.

"I've never met this creature before," Thor said, distracted from the book he was looking at.

"Her name is Maggie, Natasha gave her to me," Steve called out from the kitchen. He wiped his hands and came out to join them, sitting next to Sam on the carpet. He took Maggie out of Sam's lap, despite her loud protests, and handed her to Thor, who picked her up and brought her face close to his, looking into her eyes.

"She's beautiful," he said, and the cat purred happily, wriggling free of his grip and tucking herself into the cozy warm spot on the sofa right in between Thor and Jane's legs.

"He spoils her rotten," Natasha said.

"The cookies are done!" Darcy announced a few minutes later, and they all immediately began their taste tests. Of course Thor's opinion was the most asked-for, since he had never had a chocolate chip cookie before. Thor being Thor, of course, the son of a king trained in diplomacy, he never actually admitted to one cookie being better than the rest. Darcy, Steve, and Sam all thought that their own cookies were the most delicious, so they awaited Jane and Natasha's answers with bated breath.

"Sam's cookie is the best," Natasha said finally. Sam whooped happily.

"I like her, Steve, she's my favorite," he said. Steve rolled his eyes and put his arm around Sam, who leaned into him a little.

"Jane, if you say anyone else's cookie is better than mine I'm not going to bring you Pop-Tarts for a month, I swear - " Darcy began before Jane could open her mouth to speak.

"You're my assistant! I pay you! You can't do that!"

"Whatever, you know it's not like I'll ever quit."

"Well, I think that your cookies are the best, and I was going to say that anyway!" Jane replied, and Darcy laughed.

"Awesome!"

"I guess my seventy year old recipe doesn't hold up too well," Steve said.

"Aw, it's okay, man, don't worry, I liked your cookies." Sam said.

"Liar," Steve replied, a fond note in his voice. Darcy was poring through Steve's slowly growing record collection with interest.

"Hey, Steve, we should do some karaoke. I can hook up my iPod speakers, and you can set up your record player, it'll be like a fusion of old and new, super hipster. Remixes," she suggested.

"I'm not a singer, I'm an artist," Steve said.

"Karaoke isn't supposed to be for people who can sing, it's all about having fun! Come on, I'm sure your neighbors won't mind the noise."

"I don't mind it, in fact, I encourage this idea," Sam said. Steve groaned as Darcy and Sam lifted him to his feet, and within a few minutes, their cookie tasting party had turned into a karaoke party. Sam had slowly been introducing Steve to modern music, and they belted out a very enthusiastic rendition of 'Don't Stop Believin'', listened to an off-key version of 'Toxic' by Britney Spears by Thor and Natasha, and heard Jane and Darcy do an Adele song that neither of them really knew all the words to. Maggie the cat escaped to the relative peace of Steve's bedroom as soon as they turned the music on, and she didn't come out until later that night, when all of the guests were long gone and Sam and Steve were curled up together on Steve's bed, content, and fast asleep.


	6. Chapter 6

It was Steve's idea to go to the beach. He let Sam decide which one, and he picked Ocean City, because he said he'd gone there when he was a kid and had loved it. Sam set up an umbrella and a beach chair, settling back with a true crime book he'd brought with him. It was the end of summer, almost fall, so the beach wasn't as crowded as it may have been a few weeks earlier. Steve laid out a blue and green beach towel on the sand and took off his shirt, folding it neatly and placing it underneath Sam's chair.

"Hey, put some of this on my back, will you?" he asked, handing Sam a bottle of sunscreen. Sam complied, perhaps taking a little longer than necessary to rub the lotion onto Steve's back. Finally he was done, and Steve lay down on his stomach, shutting his eyes. He looked as content as a lizard sunning itself, and Sam tried to go back to his book instead of being distracted by the amount of half-naked Steve lying right in front of him. Finally he gave up, putting his book down and shoving Steve over so he could lie down next to him.

"Hey, get your own towel," Steve murmured, half-asleep.

"Sharing is caring," Sam replied, propping himself up on his elbows and kissing the back of Steve's neck. Steve turned and then they were full-on making out, until Steve pushed Sam away gently.

"Come on, we're out in public, anyone could see."

"So?"

"There are children, Sam," Steve said.

"Fine, fine. Come on, let's go check out the boardwalk," he suggested, and Steve nodded, getting up and shaking off the sand before pulling his too-small T-shirt back over his head. Sam reached out for Steve's hand, and he took it as they walked up the beach towards the boardwalk.

Steve and Sam bought corndogs and lemonade, then they wandered through the shops selling kitschy, overpriced souvenirs and Sam bought Steve a puka shell necklace. Steve didn't really understand why Sam was so tickled by him wearing it, but he didn't really mind. He bought Sam a brightly colored Hawaiian shirt that Sam put on over his tank top. They went down to the amusment park rides at the end of the boardwalk and rode on the ferris wheel together, sharing a kiss at the top of course.

They were walking back to their spot on the beach when they heard the screams start. They glanced at each other and took off running, only to find a man with a gun pointing it at a small girl's head, her mother screaming and pleading for him to let her go.

"What's going on?" Sam asked a bystander, and Steve immediately rushed towards the man, stopping a few yards away.

"I don't know, the mom keeps saying that guy is trying to kidnap her daughter, but he says he's her father...I called 911 but nobody's here yet," he said.

"Go get the mother out of the way, my friend and I will handle this," Sam said, and the man obliged, walking up to the woman and trying to calm her down, slowly ushering her away.

"Just put down the gun, sir, everything will be okay..." Steve said, as Sam slowly snuck up behind him.

"No, you don't understand - "

"Please, you don't want to hurt anyone," Steve said, and then he nodded slightly. Steve ran at the man, disarming him, as Sam grabbed the girl from behind and pulled her out of the way. The gun went off, but the bullet flew over everyone's heads. Sam led the girl to her mother, and thanked the bystander who had helped him out.

Steve and Sam had to wait for the police to arrive and give their statements, and then of course people found out that he was Captain America, which meant autographs and pictures, and by the time everything was finished it was dark outside. Sam had really wanted to take a walk with Steve down the beach and watch the sun set together over the ocean, but he supposed nothing ever went as planned when you were dating Captain America. That was okay. There was always tomorrow.


End file.
